At least 22 college students, teachers, and staff have been killed

This morning in Charsadda, Pakistan, militants attacked a prestigious university in the country’s northwest. On a foggy, gray day, four men opened fire on students and teachers, killing at least 22 and injuring 19. The Pakistani Taliban initially claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in a phone call to the Associated Press from an undisclosed location, but BBC is now reporting) that the group's main spokesperson has since denied this. The Pakistani Taliban was also responsible for shooting global activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.

The attack took place at Bacha Khan University, and witnesses report blasts and heavy gunfire, as The New York Times reports gunmen "scaled the rear walls of the university around 9 a.m., firing into the air."

Four of the gunmen were killed, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen Asim Salim Bajwa, who tweeted updates throughout the attack. He has since stated that the university is cleared and gunfire has ceased.

Video footage shows the chaos of military personnel and soldiers entering the campus while grief-stricken family members hold one another in fear at the university’s main gate. Photos from the scene capture the enormous weight of the violence, as casualties are rushed from the campus on stretchers and medical officers attend to victims at crowded hospitals nearby. Ambulances and medical workers flooded the scene while helicopters circled above. A statement from the Prime Minister’s office reads: "Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is deeply grieved over the sad incident of terrorists' attack on Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, which has reportedly resulted into the loss of precious human lives and injured many others." He went on to call the attacks cowardly, and said that those killing innocent students and citizens have no faith and religion.

Founded in 2012, the school is named after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a progressive politician who fought for women’s rights. According to the university site, Bacha Khan’s "message of peace and universal brotherhood... will be the motto of the University," which has the goal of advancing "knowledge and learning through quality research and education for the whole nation."

The investigation is still ongoing, but attacks like this in the region are not new, and frequently fall on schools that are trying to improve the lives of their young citizens through education. A little over a year ago, Taliban gunmen killed 145 people at a military-run school for girls and boys in nearby Peshawar, just 25 miles away from Bacha Khan University. One hundred thirty-two children and the school’s principal were among those who died. Just like when they tried to kill Malala, the Taliban is attacking education, especially for young girls, and they have even gone so far as to outlaw girls in schools in certain areas.

Furthermore, the violent attacks on schools by the region's Taliban are meant to terrify and keep people away from them — and sadly, it's working, as more than 9 million Pakistani children are not receiving an education, according to the International Crisis Group. Eight hundred and thirty-eight schools were attacked between 2009 and 2012 in Pakistan, and at least 30 school children lost their lives, reports The Guardian.

In response to this morning's attack, the Prime Minister’s commitment to the fight against terrorism has only hardened, and he said, "We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland.”

If you're reading this story today, take a moment to reflect on the fact that for most of us in the West, education is almost a right, but for many others in the world it is a luxury, and in some cases a deadly safety hazard.